Police Reforms after 1861

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The mutiny of 1857 shook the very roots of the administration of law and order in India. The diversity and inadequacy of the police machine to deal with the increasing problems of violence and disorder made the imperial government realize the urgency of a unified and re-organised police system for the entire country.

The heavy expenditure involved in maintaining a military-like police to prevent disorder and a civil police to detect disaffection in advance during the days of 1857 upheaval and after compelled the government to appoint an All India Police Commission in 1860 to look into the problems of police administration, and to suggest ways and means for an increase in police efficiency and to reduce excessive expenditure involved in maintaining the police force. The terms of reference of the Commission also included a quest for uniformity in the police system as it obtained in British India.

The Police Commission in its historic report recommended:

(1) The abolition of the military police as a separate organisation;

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(2) The constitution of a single homogeneous police force of civil constabulary for the perfor­mance of all police duties;

(3) A police system on provincial basis with an Inspector General of Police as the head of the provincial police organisation;

(4) A district-based police system in which each of the district police establishments was to be headed by an SP, who was to function under the general control and supervision of the DM;

(5) Two senior police functionaries the IGP and the SP – who have to be citizens of European origin;

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(6) A subordinate police force which was to consist of inspectors, head constables, sergeants and constables;

(7) The commissioners of divisions who were not to wield additional police powers;

(8) The continuance of DMs supervision of the district police organisation but not beyond the level;

(9) The abolition of military police; and

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(10) The retention of village police, which though inefficient and corrupt, was to be continued as a halfway house for its usefulness in the Indian context.

The major recommendations of the Commission were incorporated into a Bill, which was more or less on the lines of Madras Act of 1859. Later on, it was passed into a law as Act V of 1861. The basic structure of police organisation as provided in the act has withstood the ravages of time and forms the corner stone of the police administration in India till today.

This Indian Police Act and the basic law codes that determine the nature, scope and limits of police jobs present the Indian police organisation as a line organisation which should seek assistance of and render help to various administrative agencies in the maintenance of law and order and prevention of crime and vice in society.

Police organisation thus got linked up with several other departments and agencies like magistracy, jails, hospitals, courts, transport and communications (including the Indian Railways) and the like. Finally, the police administration in its wider ramifications became a support adminis­tration for the defence services of the nation which in turn has to come to its rescue if the emergency problems of internal security render the police dysfunctional.

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The police reforms of 1860 remained a matter of debate and controversy for the rest of the century. In Bombay, the post of the police commissioner which was created in 1855 was abolished in 1860. This led to the creation of the office of the IGP in 1885, but a large amount of power of discretion and control remained inoperative.

In United Provinces, the commissioner was made the ex officio deputy IGP with wide powers in police personnel matters. In Punjab, the same system operated with a new development that the DIG of police was gradually rendered into a nominal professional adviser to the divisional commissioner, who was also the ex officio DIG in status. Thus, the reforms of 1860 did not alter the situation materially and the total scheme remained in abeyance for one reason or the other in various provinces of the country.